Filling machine



May 11 193349 JfscHMam 9 FILLING MACHINE Filed Sept. 50, 1952 4Sheets-Sheet l May 1, 1934. I

J. "SCHMIDT FILLING MACHINE Filed Sept. 30. 1952 4-Sheets-Sheet 3 l'll'iMay 1934- J. SCHMIDT FILLING MACHINE Filed Sept. 50. 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet4 I I i ul' lllllalj'l lllvlvllulllllnllllll Qmm ll lll|il l lllll.lllll r.lllll I. v :rLil llll IIPIIIIIIIIIBIll-l Patented May 1, 1934 STATESPATENT OFFICE FILLING MACHINE John Schmidt, Buifalo, N. Y., assignor toFood Machinery Corporation, San Jose, Calif., a corporation of DelawareApplication September so, 1932, Serial No. 635,6'l7

13 Claims.

the material is filled into the containers.

Different types of mechanism is employed to support and align thecontainers with the filling devices and all of such mechanism requiressome space in which to operate, with the result that the center tocenter spacing of the containers has of necessity been greater than isdesirable for high speed operation, and especially so where thin liquidsare being handled. r

The greater the center to center spacing of the containers the greaterthe lineal speed of the containers to acquire a maximum output and withthe liquid material this increased speed and change of direction of thecontainers in passing through the machine causes the thin liquids tospill from the containers and be lost, thereby increasing the cost ofproduction and producing a constant soiling of the mechanism andadjacent equipment.

In the filling of most material it is necessary to quite accuratelymeasure the charges going into the containers, and in a turret machinethe measuringdevices are usually arranged around a circular pathinsideof the path of containers, so that of necessity the path of thecontainers prescribes a greater center to center distance than isdesirable since the containers and measuring devices are usuallyarranged in radial alignment. Also it has been the practice heretoforeto make the measuring cylinders and devices of round cross section,which when placed around a circular path require a certain centerspacing to give room for the assemblage of the parts, and this againcaused a longer center to center distance than was desirable in a highspeed machine.

The principal improvement in this invention comprises a changing of theshape of the measuring devices so that they can be spaced around theircircular path with greatly reduced center to center distances andthereby reduce in the same proportion the center to center distances ofthe containers arranged radially therewith. This arrangement reducesmaterially the lineal speed of travel of the containers for a givencapacity per hour and therefore reduces the liability to spill theproduct from the open containers due to too high a speed of travel.

This improvement consists in making the meas i uring chambers and theplungers moving therein of triangular shape so that there is the minimumof lost distance between chambers and since the division wall betweenchambers can be a thin membrane the centerto center distance betweenchambers is reduced to the smallest possible amount. 1

Another improvement in this invention resides in the manner ofconnecting the measuring plungers to the slide means for impartingreciprocating movement thereto, and wherein a fioating connection isprovided so that the slide and plunger can automatically alignthemselves during operation and thus reduce and eliminate all sidestrains incident to unequal wear or slightly imperfect machining in theconstruction of the machine. This arrangement also reduces the closetolerance limits necessary if the parts must align perfectly with rigidbearings and thereby reduces materially the cost of manufacture.

Other detail improvements will be disclosed as the description of theinvention proceeds.

It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide anarrangement of measuring and feeding devices for filling machineswherein the center to center distances between devices is reduced to aminimum.

It is a further object of the invention to provide in a filling machinetriangular shaped measuring chambers and plungers.

It is a further object of the invention to provide in a. filling machinetriangular shaped measuring chambers and filling plungers havingadjustment on the plungers for taking up normal wear.

It is a. further object of the invention to provide a filling machine aplurality of measuring chambers of triangular cross section with radialwalls separating the chambers to reduce to a minimum the center tocenter distance of the chambers.

It is also an object of the invention to provide in a filling machinemeasuring chambers and plungers therein and slide members for movingsaid plungers and a floating connection between the slides and plungers.

It is also an object of the invention to provide improved means forpreventing the feeding of material if no can is presented to the feedingdevices.

It is also an object of the invention to provide improved means forcontrolling the handling and positioning of the containers relative tothe feed- "and measuring devices as well as in presenting anddischarging the cans to and from the machine.

With such objects in view as well as other advantages inherent in theinvention, the novel structural peculiarities, novel organization ofelements, and the separate and collective operations involved incarrying out the recited objects of the invention, which will be madethe subject matter of claims, I wish it understood that the severalnecessary elements and combinations constituting the same may be variedin their proportions, placement and general arran ement and operativerelation without departing from the scope and nature of the invention.In carrying out the objects of the invention in a concrete form ormachine, further objects, advantages and improvements have been evolved,and in order to make the invention more clearly understood there areshown, in the accompanying drawings means and mechanism embodying thepreferred structural arrangement and dispositions of parts andcombinations have been shown to illustrate one way of embodying thecreative part or concept of the invez tiliiii "The described devices aresimply embodimeritsof the invention which other structures might employand some of the parts and combinations may be used without the others indifferent types of machines without departure from the purview of theinvention and I therefore regard myself as entitled to such variationsfrom the shown and described devices as fall within the scope andmeaning of the claims.

Reference now being had to the drawings which are more or lessdiagrammatic in character a better and clearer understanding of theinvention will be had.

Figure 1 represents a plan of a 'machine embodying the invention withportions broken away to show some underlying p'arts.

Figure 2 is a vertical section taken on approximately the line 22 ofFigure 1 Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on approximately the line33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a lineal plan of the operating cam for controlling themovement of the filling nozzle plungers.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the switching mechanism that iscontrolled by the presence of a can to determine whether a measuredcharge of material is to be released or sent back into the tank.

Figure 6 is a plan of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a detail on substantially line 77 of Fig. 6.

Figure 8 is a plan detail of the arm moved I by a can to control thefilling plungers.

The numeral 1 represents a general frame work on which the operativeparts of the machine are mounted. 2 may represent a supply tank formaterial. 3 a turret member located directly under the supply tank 2. 4may represent the measuring chambers and 5 the plungers in the chambers4. 6 are connecting rods secured to the plungers 5 and having a floatingconnection '7 with the operating slides 8 carried in suitable bearingsin the lower part of the turret. 9 may represent a container supportsecured to the turret 3 and 10 the container centering and guiding ringalso secured to the turret 3. Arranged around the upper periphery of theturret 3 are a series of small plungers 11 mounted for sliding movementin the nozzle members 12 which latter are bolted to the turret 3 as at13. The plungers 11 are given sliding movement through the medium ofrollers 14 engaging with the cam member 15 and are further controlled bya movable cam section 16 which in turn is operated by the presence of acontainer moving the arm 17 connected to cam section 16 by means of thevertical shaft 18 and the connecting mechanism which will be describedlater. The cans or containers are fed to the turret by means of afeeding star wheel 19 and are discharged from the machine by a rake oilarm 20 onto the disk 21.

Referring now to the measuring chambers 4. These as will be seen fromFig. 1 are triangular in shape and are formed by the central ring mem-The plungers 5 are triangular in shape to fit into thetriangulanmeasuring chambers 4 and are provided with an adjusting wedge25 held by the screw 26, the adjustment of this wedge member 25determines the fit of the plungers in the measuring chambers.

The floating connection for the slides 7 and the connecting rods 6comprise the blocks? pinned to the rods 6 and having lateral movement inthe slot 26, permitted by the enlarged holes in the slides 8 as at 27.This arrangement permits the plungers and slides to automatically alignthemselves during assembling and operation.

The plungers 11 are provided with by-passes 28 registering with theports 29 and 30 thereby establishing communication between the supplytank 2 and the measuring chambers '4 during a portion of the travel, thefunction of which will be explained later.

In order to operate a machine of this type successfully it is necessaryto provide some means for preventing a feed of material if no can ispresent under the filling nozzle 11. The mechanism for caring for thisfeature of the invention will now be described.

The cans entering the turret encounter the arm 17 and deflect it awayfrom its normal position within the path of the cans as is seen in Fig.1.

Fig. 8 shows this arm in its two positions, the dotted line being itsposition when no can is present and the full line the position with acan present. The arm 17 is fixed to the vertical shaft 18 which issupported by suitable brackets secured to the frame of the machine.shows the arrangement very clearly. A torsion spring 31 is secured atone end to the collar 32 on the shaft 18 and to the lower supportingbracket at the other end and is tensioned to hold the arm 17 in thedotted position of Fig. 8.

On the upper end of the shaft 18 is positioned the arm 33 also fixed tothe shaft 18. The arm 33 has a hole in the end into which a pin 34projects and which in turn is secured to the end of a short rock shaft35 finding bearing in the cam member The cam member 15 extends entirelyaround the outside of the turret and the cam trackways for the controlof the movement of the plungers 11 are best shown in Fig. 4 which is alineal plan h of this cam. The rollers 14 carried by the plungers 11ride in the camways and are caused to ride through the camway 37 by theposition of the switch 36 when it is in the downmost position as in Fig.7. r

Fig. 5

If the switch 36 is in its upper position which it would be if a can didnot move the arm 17, the rollers will ride around the entire circle inthe camway 38 which will hold each plunger that is the tank with themeasuring chamber 4 so that I the charge of material in the measuringchamber will be discharged back into the tank through the by-pass 28.The movement of the switch 36 through the mechanism leading to the arm1'7, by the presence of a can being the determining factorfor thepositioning of the plungers 11, which plunger controls the feeding of ameasured charge-to a positioned can.

Operation The operation of a machine embodying the invention would besubstantially as follows with the arrangement shown but may varysomewhat with another arrangement.

The hopper 2 being supplied with material and a supply of empty cansbeing available the machine may be started and operated through thecentral shaft 39 from a suitable source of power not shown. The materialsupply tank is fixed and does not rotate, but the turret mechanismrotates under the tank. At one side of the bottom of the tank 2 is anopening 40 through which material passes into the measuring chambers asthey pass thereunder and is pulled into the chambersby the plungers 5.The plungers 5 being moved up and down by the cam member 41.

Theplungers 5 will be in the down position from about the point A Fig. 1to about the position B, when position B is reached the plungers 11 willhave been properly positioned by a can and the material carried by thechambers 4 will begin to be discharged into the can because with a canpresent the plungers 11 will be in their upper position as at the leftof Fig. 2 which will permit the charge in the chambers 4 to enter thepositioned cans. After the charge has been forced from the chambers intoa positioned can the plungers 11 will descend and force any adheringmaterial from the mouths of the filling nozzles just before the sweeparm 20 removes the can from the turret- The ports 30 have their bottomsurfaces inclined as at 42 Fig. 2 so that any adhering material willtend to run back into the measuring chamber and not form a drip in themouth of the nozzle.

The arrangement of the measuring chambers into triangular form as isclearly shown in Fig. 1 permits a comparatively close center to centerdistance between cans which greatly facilitates the handling of the cansafter they are filled because their lineal speed is thereby reduced andthis is a very important feature in machines for filling thin liquids,because with close center to center can distances there is much lesschance of spilling the thin liquid from the cans as their direction ofmovement is changed. 1

It is thought that the description of Figs. 4 to 8 has beensufiicient togive a clear understanding of .the mechanism for operating the switch 36for'positioning the plungers 11 as regards the presence or non-presenceof a can. The

swinging of the arm 17 'will swing the arm 33, thereby rocking the shaft35 and moving the switch to'the position of Fig. 5 which will cause theroller 14 to ride up the switch incline and permit the charge ofmaterial in the chamber 4 to be discharged into the can. If no can ispresent there will be no movement of the arm 17 and then the plungerwill remain in the lower cam- Way 38 and cause the charge of material inthe chamber 4 to pass back into the tank through the by-pass 28.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: g

1. An apparatus for measuring and filling liquids into positionedcontainers comprising a tank for a supply of liquid, a turret associatedtherewith, means on turret for positioning containers and moving themtherewith, triangularly shaped measuring chambers forming a part of saidturret, filling nozzles connected with said turret and aligning withpositioned containers with means for rotating said tank and turret inunison.

2-. An apparatus for measuring and filling mobile materials intopositioned containers comprising a tank for a supply of material, aturret associated therewith, means on said turret forv positioningcontainers and moving them therewith, angularly shaped measuringchambers forming a part of said turret, angularly shaped plungers insaid measuring chambers for drawing material from said tank, fillingnozzles aligned with the positioned containers with means for operatingsaid mentioned parts in unison and timed relation.

3. An apparatus for filling mobile material into positioned containerscomprising a tank for a supply of material, a turret secured to saidtank, means on said turret for positioning and moving containerstherewith. angularly disposed measuring chambers concentrically arrangedaround the axis of rotation, the apices of the angles being radiallynearest the center, angularly shaped plungers in said chambers and meansfor maintaining a determined adjustment of said plungers relative tosaid chambers with means for operating said parts in timed relation.

4. An apparatus for filling material into positioned containerscomprising a tank for a supply of material and means for fillingmaterial into positioned containers, said means including a series oftriangularly shaped measuring chambers arranged concentrically around acenter of rotation with the apex of the angles radially nearest thecenter of rotation, angularly shaped plungers in said chambers,adjusting means carried by said plungers to maintain a ti ht operativefit between said plungers and said chambers with means for operatingsaid plungers in successive relation to said filling means.

5. An apparatus for filling material into positioned containerscomprising a tank for a supply of material and means for measuring andfilling material into positioned containers, said filling meanscomprising angularly shaped measuring chambers arranged in closestpossible concentric relation around the center of rotation,reciprocating angularly disposed plungers in said measuring chambers,means for giving lateral movement to said plungers to maintain a properrunning fit between said chambers and said.

plungers with power means for operating said parts in timed relation.

6. An apparatus for filling materials into positioned containerscomprising a tank for a supply of liquid and filling means for directingthe ma- 1" said radial walls with means for moving said parts inoperative relation.

7. An apparatus for measuring and filling liquids into positionedcontainers comprising a tank for a supply of liquid, a series ofangularly shaped measuring chambers arranged under said tank and havingoperating connection therewith, a series of plungers in said chambershaving angular shapes to correspond with the shapes of said chambers,means for reciprocating said plungers permitting a lateral movementthereto, means on said plungers for giving lateral movement thereto insaid chambers for maintaining a running' adjustment with means foroperating said parts in unison and timed relation.

8. An apparatus for measuring and filling liquids into positionedcontainers comprising a tank for a supply of liquid, a series ofmeasuring chambers positioned under said tank to receive materialtherefrom, said chambers being formed by radial walls intersectingcircumferential walls, plungers positioned in said chambers having wallsto coincide with the walls of the chambers with means for giving lateralmovement to said plungers to adjust the Wall surfaces for properoperative alignment with the wall surfaces of the en-= closing chambers.

9. An apparatus for measuring and filling liquids into positionedcontainers comprising a tank carrying filling means, a series oftriangularly shaped measuring chambers, a series of plungers in saidchambers With means for giving lateral movement to said plungers toadjust them relative to said chambers and a loose drive connectionermitting said lateral adjustment with means for operating said parts intimed relation.

10. An apparatus for measuring and filling liquids. into positionedcontainers comprising a tank for a supply of liquid, means for measuringand filling liquid into the containers, a passageway leading from saidtanlr to said measuring and filling means, a valve member in saidpassageway, means operative by the presence of said containers forcontrolling the fill of the liquid, said means including an armdeflected by a container, a vertical shaft connected to said arm, rocl:

levers also on said shaft, a switch member connected to said rock leversand two camways adjacent said switch whereby the passage of a con-'tainer will move said arm, shaft, levers and switch and thereby movesaid valve member to determine the flow of material from said measuringand filling means,

- 11. A filling machine comprising a reservoir, an annularly arrangedseries of wedge shaped measuring cylinders disposed to receive fluentmaterial from said reservoir, wedge shaped pistons is said measuringcylinders, filling nozzles associated with said measuring cylinders,means for positioning containers to receive the discharge from saidfilling nozzles, and means for rotating said measuring cylinders, theirassociated filling nozzles, and the can positioning means in unison.

12. A filling machine comprising a rotatable reservoir, an a-nnularlyarranged series of wedge shaped measuring cylinders communicating withsaid reservoir and movable therewith, Wedge shaped pistons in saidmeasuring cylinders, filling nozzles associated with said measuringcylinders, means for positioning containers to receive the dischargefrom said filling nozzles, and means for rotating said reservoir and canpositioning means in unison.

13. A filling machine comprising a rotatable reservoir, an annularlyarranged series of wedge shaped measuring cylinders communicativelyassociated with said reservoir therebeneath and rotatable therewith,wedge shaped pistons in said measuring cylinders, filling nozzlescommunicating with said measuring cylinders and movable therewith, meansfor controlling communication between said reservoir and said measuringcylinders and the discharge from said nozzles, means for positioningcontainers to receive the discharge from said filling nozzles, means forrotating said reservoir and can positioning means in unison, and meansfor operating said pistons and control means in timed relation to therotation of said reservoir and can positioning,

means.

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